Sting

The Dream of the Blue Turtles [A&M, 1985] C+

. . . Nothing Like the Sun [A&M, 1987] B

The Soul Cages [A&M, 1991]

Ten Summoner's Tales [A&M, 1993]

Mercury Falling [A&M, 1996]

Consumer Guide Reviews:

The Dream of the Blue Turtles [A&M, 1985]
Not since Paul Simon's dangling conversations has a pop hero made such a beeline for the middlebrow cliché. Romantically he runs the gamut from if-you-love-somebody-set-them-free to each-man-kills-the-thing-he-loves, and of course he doesn't ignore the cosmic side of things--"There is a deeper world than this/That you don't understand." Speaking of deeper worlds we don't understand, I'm pleased by his pro-miner sentiments, but wonder why he has to (my italics) "hope the Russians love their children too," since I've always assumed they do. And displacing the Police's sere dynamics we have bathtubs full of demijazz, drenching this self-aggrandizing and no doubt hitbound project in a whole new dimension of phony class. C+

. . . Nothing Like the Sun [A&M, 1987]
He's more relaxed this time, because he's gotten to know his band or maybe just because he's got to less to prove, but except on the lovingly funky "We'll Be Together," no doubt a sop to the market, you're not going to catch him having fun. That would entail his getting out of himself, and from the jazzy insouciance of his Noah sendup to the aching compassion of his tribute to the mothers of the Chilean slain, the focus is always on the man singing. Pretentious, this is called, and no matter how humane your intentions it buries your subject matter in ego. B